Tag Archives: candidates

Election Day is November 6, 2018

It is up to us to elect City Council members who will represent residents.

While SPON cannot take positions on candidates, it does encourage everyone to become informed about the candidates’ positions on issues important to the quality of life in Newport Beach.

A variety of groups organized forums at which the public had a chance to learn about City candidates and ballot issues. The following information is primarily based on that on the City Clerk’s 2018 Election page. All those listed were free and open to the public. See the Clerk’s page for additional information about the election time line, the Council candidates profiles and ballot statements, and the City ballot measure (on which SPON, also, takes no position).

Recordings of some of the forum events can be viewed online on the City’s NBTV streaming video site (see note at end of table regarding the City’s recording policy). Additional recordings can be found by following the SPON videos link at right or in the table below. In particular, SPON’s YouTube Election Forums playlist provides links to YouTube recordings by SPON and others from past years. Speak Up Newport videos from 2014 of council candidates and ballot Measure Y are separately available on Vimeo.

In addition to the forum videos, written questions and answers with the Council candidates have been published (independently) by at least two newspapers:

Note regarding City recording of election forums: although the City has no clear policy on what third-party events it films and posts, it appears at least some of this year’s forums are being recorded by City contractors and may be available for viewing on the City website as well as broadcast on its public cable channel, Newport Beach TV. In 2016, the City posted the Newport Chamber, West Newport, Speak Up and Feet to the Fire forums. In 2014, it posted none. Because there is no policy, it is also possible it might broadcast some without posting them (or vice versa). The West Newport moderators specifically said their forum was being recorded for broadcast in September and October. The City’s policy on recording and broadcasting election forums was briefly debated as Item 3 at the Council’s September 27, 2016, meeting, and was supposed to come back for a decision, but never did. The video of that meeting is, itself, interesting to watch.